This game is an ambitious project seeking 14 players (the max allowed by ATG).

Rise of Nations rules: A) Alliances and team wins are allowed. B) Once an alliance is made it may not be broken. C) The maximum number of alliance members is four. D) If the full complement of 14 players is not acheived, the maximum number of alliance members will be three.

Code of Conduct: 1) Don't disappear unexpectedly. If you lose interest in the game, surrender your forces. Don't ruin the game for the rest of us by quitting without notice. You may give your units/resources/territory to an alliance member before surrendering. 2) Complete your turn within 24 to 48 hours if at all possible. If you are going to be away for an extended period of time, let us know. 4) Email the new file to the next player in line after your turn is done. (We may use DropBox if all players agree.) 5) File naming format: AAA-BBB-CCC-DDD-EEE-FFF-GGG-HHH-III-JJJ-KKK-LLL-MMM-NNN-### (Where AAA is the name of player one, BBB is player two, CCC is player three, etc., with ### increasing by one number at the end of each player's turn...001, 002, 003, etc.) 6) Make a "courtesy" post on this forum that you have passed the turn to the next player in line.

Ambitious project indeed! Assuming you get all 14 player slots filled, at best you'll not complete more than 2-3 turns a month/24-36 turns in a year. Considering the map size and the potential numbers of players I also wonder if the 'no roads/costly research/one town start' options will not unduly make for a very long time to any significant action. Request at least a reconsideration about using 'one town start.' It probably would be helpful to the novices not to have to search for cities.

All that said above, I'll join in even if nothing is changed. I do highly recommend that anyone not using Dropbox for exchanging turns get a free Dropbox account (www.dropbox.com). It beats using email by a long shot. It also alleviates the need to notify players about whose turn it is. You simply check your Dropbox folder.

Count me in. With alliances allowed and most likely to happen research can be shared, so costly research is fine with me.

Do we use of Dropbox so everybody can keep track of who's turn it is

What happens if someone drops out/dissapears. Maybe it would be good to share passwords with alliance-members so that if someone dissapears, they can take his turn, surrender and the rest can continue on.

The thing to remember about "no roads" is that to build a single hex of rail line costs 20 raw (more if you have to bridge a river I believe). The "no roads" option will limit early armor production, at least if you wish to build out your rail net to expand your supply reach. I'm ok either way.

Agreed--with allies to trade tech with "costly research" isn't too bad, especially with potential alliances of 3/4 players. It will promote early alliances. Do you want a house rule about "no alliances" before N number of turns? No declarations of war before N number of turns?

I'm thinking alliances are most likely to form with adjacent regimes though the possibility will exist to isolate one or more players via alliances I suppose. However, with a normal world there will be a lot of water. Hmmmm, game is sounding more interesting the more I think about it. Everyone, just be prepared for a LONG game and don't be in a rush. Get into other games in addition to this one if you need more action more quickly.

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ORIGINAL: SailingGuy

What does everyone think about striking "No roads" and "Costly research"? I agree with Webizen, and have already struck "One city start".

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What does everyone think about striking "No roads" and "Costly research"? I agree with Webizen, and have already struck "One city start".

One other thing to remember: there are only seven playable people groups in ATG. Any number of players over seven means that there will be duplicate people groups. In game terms what that means is that if you capture an enemy city of the same people group as your own, that city will be fully functional for production purposes (i.e. it can produce combat units). A captured enemy city not of your people group can only produce PPs and limited amounts of raw/oil). If this game gets all 14 players there will be seven sets of duplicate people groups. All players should keep this in mind. Any player who can conquer enemy cities of his own people group can potentially become very powerful.

One other thing to remember: there are only six people groups in ATG. Any number of players over six means that there will be duplicate people groups. In game terms what that means is that if you capture an enemy city of the same people group as your own, that city will be fully functional for production purposes (i.e. it can produce combat units). A captured enemy city not of your people group can only produce PPs and limited amounts of raw/oil). If this game gets all 14 players there will be two sets of three duplicate people groups. All players should keep this in mind. Any player who can conquer enemy cities of his own people group can potentially become very powerful.

That is a very important tip that frankly hadn't even occurred to me until you mentioned it. Thank you.

Dropbox is very simple to use. The first thing to do is visit http://www.dropbox.com and create your free account using the same email address you plan to use for this game. Once you create your account, download and install the Dropbox software on your computer. When SailingGuy shares the game folder with you and saves a save game file into it, it uploads to the cloud and then is replicated to every other player's dropbox game folder. Each player will save his save gave file to his local dropbox. Works beautifully and saves a ton of emailing.

I think there should be a limit on the number of alliances a player can be in. At the moment you could be allied to all other players, boring game but possible. I setup a number of games using the new settings and a good number of the countries end up with 1 city and no resources.

@LazyBoy - by house rule each alliance is limited to 3 or 4 players depending on number of players joining the game. Your question did bring to mind a possibility I think needs address. I believe SailingGuy's intention for alliances is that the 3/4 members will be allied with each another (Alliance A) and not that some members of Alliance A are part of Alliance B, C or D. That would seem to get really messy and complicated if allowed as the game won't allow certain actions vs other players in mixed peace/war/alliance states. Hope that makes sense.

ORIGINAL: Webizen I believe SailingGuy's intention for alliances is that the 3/4 members will be allied with each another (Alliance A) and not that some members of Alliance A are part of Alliance B, C or D. That would seem to get really messy and complicated if allowed as the game won't allow certain actions vs other players in mixed peace/war/alliance states. Hope that makes sense.

Exactly. So if A allies with B and B allies with C, A must ally with C. Since alliances are "forever", care must be taken with whom you ally.

Official: "1 Town Start" has been struck. "Costly Research" has been confirmed. "No Roads" is still under discussion.

Thanks to Webizen for putting together the DropBox intro. It really is easy to use and quite beneficial to the flow of the game.

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Phil aka SailingGuy

To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs. ~Aldous Huxley

I prefer to play with 1 town start, regular research and roads. If you don't choose that option the map will be completely divided with scattered areas all over the map for every nation. Playing with 4 already creates silly maps, imagine playing with 14...

ORIGINAL: Jay Doubleyou I prefer to play with 1 town start, regular research and roads. If you don't choose that option the map will be completely divided with scattered areas all over the map for every nation. Playing with 4 already creates silly maps, imagine playing with 14...

So are you saying that with multiple towns our forces might not be contiguous? If that's the case, I agree we should go back to "1 Town Start". Does anyone have experience with this?

Jay, I'm assuming you want to play, so have added you to the list. We can work out the set up details so that most everyone is happy with the outcome.

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Phil aka SailingGuy

To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs. ~Aldous Huxley

Yeah i'd like to play. I just created an 8 player map. Six countries had their territories scattered over the map. The ATG mapgenerator makes very odd maps if you don't choose 1 town start. If you have time create a few 14 player maps and check what they look like.

ORIGINAL: Jay Doubleyou Yeah i'd like to play. I just created an 8 player map. Six countries had their territories scattered over the map. The ATG mapgenerator makes very odd maps if you don't choose 1 town start. If you have time create a few 14 player maps and check what they look like.

That makes me think that we should go back to "1 Town Start" and then offset that choice by scratching "Costly Research".

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Phil aka SailingGuy

To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs. ~Aldous Huxley

i suggest you try making a few maps with the dry world option, it still can have a lot of water. just check it out. I will play anything but I do agree that with a normal world map and a regular start ( not 1 city) then some people will have starting cities scattered across the water. if you do no roads then it will take a while for the game to get going.